Ash gate



Oct. 22, 1929. F. H. DUNBAR ASH GATE Filed Aug. 15, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 22, 1929. F. H. DUNBAR 1,732,576

ASH GATE Filed Aug. 15, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 22, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK H. DUNIBAR, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE ALLEN-SHERMAN-HOFF COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VAN IA ASH GATE Application filed August 15, 1924. Serial 1%. 732,33.

This invention relates to closures for hoppers, and is particularly adapted to hoppers for receiving ashes or other loose material.

In the usual practice ash hoppers are designed to hold the hot ashes until they can be discharged in suitable transporting devices by opening. the doors of a gate construction beneath thedischarge opening. In order to quench the hot ashes to prevent them from injuring the walls of the hopper and stoker parts, considerable water is sprayed on them. It is desirable therefore to remove this water in a satisfactory and eflicient manner.

An object of my invention is to provide a door for such hoppers which will at all times receive and discharge easily and quickly all such liquid without allowing it to escape and fall in undesirable places.

Another object of he invention is to provide the closure mechanism with liquid conducting passages so constructed that the material carried along with the water is re- ,moved from the passages and from the surface of the door upon opening. the gate.

A further object of the invent on is to provide a collecting trough for recelvlng the water and sediment .from the door, which 001- lecting trough can be automatically freed of sediment or other material upon openlng the door.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following description and attached drawings forming a part of this application.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application,

Figure 1 is a plan view partly in sectlon of a gate construction.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the gate shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the gatt taken on line 3-3, Figure 1.

Fig.4 is a vertical section on line 41-4, Fig. 1, and also indicating the hopper walls.

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line 55, Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a vertical section on line 6-6, Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the door alone.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical section through the front of the gate frame showing a modified construction.

The lower portion of one of the hoppers for holding ashes or other material is fragmentari-ly indicated in Fig. 4 and preferably.

consists of the usual metal supporting bars 1 lined with fire brick or other refractory material 2. Surrounding the discharge opening of each hopper is a gate construction comprising a frame 4 and a door 3, the frame 4 comprising sides 4 disposed in the direction of motion of the door in opening, and closing and ends 4". The end toward which the door moves in opening is hereinafter referred to as the front of the door, the other end being referred to as the rear thereof.

The sides 4 of the frame are preferably of channel construction, each having a vertical web 6 and flanges 7 and 8 projecting outwardly. The sides 4' are provided also on the inside with flange 9 on which the refractory material may rest. From flange 9 extends downwardly flange 10 which latter extends around the four sides of the frame 4, there being a small'clearance between the lower extremity of the flange 10 and the door. The portion of the flange 10 at the rear of the door is indicated at 10, and at the front of the door at 10. Extending longitudinally beyond the sides 4' of the gate frame are angle sections 11 to which may be secured the component-parts of the door operating mechanism 12. The flan es 13 of the angles 11 form an extension of t e track 7 on which the doors are suspended for movement. The door 3 is carriedby arms 15 to which are attached rollers 16 to run on the track formed by flanges 7 of the frame and flanges 13 of the angle sections 11. The doors are reciprocated to open and closed position by any suitable mechanism such as shown at 12, in which a piston rod 17 operating within cylinder 18 is connected to the flange 19 on the front end of passages 20 for carrying off the liquid which comes through the material in the hopper.

' These passages are formed by outwardly extending flanges 21 and upwardly extending flanges 22 secured to and referably integral with the door. Preferab y the flange 21 is positioned at about the same level as the top the flange 10 of the frame and'the surface 23 of the door is contained in the passage 20, the flange 22 preventing it from flowing over the edge of the door. As the rear ends of the pasages 20 are open, the water will naturally flow from the front of the door to the rearind thence to any suitable collecting means. l

However, I do not depend upon the flow of fluid to keep the side passages 20 clean as I provide a positive means to remove, every time the door is moved, the material in the passages, as well as the material on the surface of the door. A scraper or flange 25,,

depending from the frame and overlying the surface of the door and extending into the passages 20', may be provided to scrape the surface of the door and scrape the passages 20 at the sides of the door. Preferably the flange 25 is made integral with the frame and the outer ends 25 are preferably turned so that. they are substantially at right angles to the passages 20 and extend across the passages 20 to a position adlacent the upwardly extending flanges 22 o the door.

It will be 'seen that the flange 10 from the frame and thedepending flange 25 together substantially form a water passage 26 at the front of the door which opens into the side assages 20. The passage 26 is also cleaned y the flgige 25 upon the opening of thedoor. I

In case, however, it is not desired to have both the flanges 10 and 25, the frame flange 10 may be omitted, as indicated in Fig. 8.

A transverse flange 22 provided at the front of the door with offset portions 22 is arranged to prevent leakage of water over the front end of the door. This flange is ipcline'd to permit any materials which may have collected in front of the scraper flange 25 to be forced up over the edge so that it will not pack between the flanges 22 and 22 and the scraper.

I have shown a flange 26' extending outwardly across the rear of the door and provided with a drip edge. When the door is' in closed position, the clearance between flange 26 and flange 10 is such that water is permitted to escape therethrough. The rear ends of the passages 20 are open so that the water from the passages, and the water from the surface of the door between them, passes into a collecting trough 27. The trough 27 extends across the rear of the door and is of any convenient cross sectional shape.

An outlet 28 is provided by which the liquid may be withdrawn from the trough and directed into any desired conduit.

The trough 27 may advantageously be made so that the contents may be discharged therefrom. For this purpose it is pivoted on pins 29 which are fixedly attached to each end of the trough. On the flanges'7 are mounted bearings, as shown at 30. By means of the pins 29 which are supported in the bearings 30, and which extend outwardly beyond the bearings, the trough is rotatably supported by the frame. Keyed to one of the pins 29 in any suitable manner is a crank 31 which receives a rod 32 therein. Secured to a forward arm 15 is a clip having an outwardly extending flange 34 apertur'ed to receive the rod ,32. A clip 35 is secured to the track 13 and contains an aperture to loosely receive the rod 32. Seating against the clip 35 is a helical spring 33, the other end of which seats against a collar 36 adj ustably secured to the rod 32, so that the pressure of the spring may be varied. When the collar is secured, however, in any desired position on the rod, movement of the collar will cause movement of the rod 32.

When the door is in closed position, the trough 27 is positioned asindicated in Fig. 3. Upon opening the door the clip 34 engages the collar 36 and thus pulls the rod 32 against the pressure of the spring 33 and causes the trough 27 to be rotated upon the pins 29 until the trough is in a substantially inverted position and the sediment and other material collected in the trough is dumped. By the above described means I provide for the automatic removal of the collected material in the trough every time the door is opened.

'While, as described, my invention is applied to one type of hopper, it is obvious that it may be applied to many other types of hoppers and similar devices and many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope of my invention.

It will be seen that by providing a positive means for cleaning the side passages and front of the door and the surface of the door I am enabled to use substantially horizontal side and front assages and to prevent the accumulation 0 material adhering to the surface of the door.

By providing'side passages on-the same plane as the surface of the door, I' am anabled to provide a simple door construction,

I a relatively simple and stronger scraper construction for keeping the passages and door clean, and a means for preventing water overflowing the edge of the door.

It will also be seen that by providing a tiltable collecting trough, I provide for the convenient removal of the water from the side passages and door, and for the automatic removal of the sediment collected in such trough.

It is to be understood that the particular forms of apparatus shown and described, and the particular procedure set forth, are presented for purposes of explanation and illustration only and not by way of limitation and that various modifications of said apparatus and procedure can be made without departing from my invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movable relative theretoand having drain passages along its sides's ubstantially on the same plane as the surface of the door, means for scraping material from the said side passages and door upon relative movement thereof, and a tiltable trough carried by the said frame for receiving liquid from said door, and means for tiltin said trough upon a predetermined motion 0 said door.

2. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movable relative thereto and having drain passages along its sides, means for scraping material from the said side passages and door upon relative movement of the door and frame, a trough arranged to receive liquid when the door is in closed position, and means for tilting said trough upon opening movement of said door.

3. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movably associated therewith and having bottom fed drain passages along its sides, means for scraping material from the'said side passages and door upon relative movement of the door and frame and a liquid receiving trough pivoted in said frame and having means for dumping the same upon opening movement of the door.

4. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movably associated therewith and having bottom fed drain passages along its sides, a scraper carried b said frame for removing material from t e door and passages, a trough trunnioned in said frame and arranged to receive liquid from said door when in closed position, a crank arm fastened to said trough, and a rigid rod pivoted ,to said arm and actuated by the door.

5. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movably associated therewith having drain passages along its sides substantially on the same plane as the surface of the door, means for scraping the material from the said passages and door upon relative movement of the door and frame aliquid receiving trough trunnioned in the frame and means for tilting the trough about its trunnions upon a predetermined movement of the door.

6. The combination with a hopper provided with a bottom discharge opening, of a frame surrounding said opening, a door reciprocable thereon, said door being provided with. means for collecting liquid passing through said opening and discharging the same at one end of the door, a collecting trough located at the rear of the door to receive theliquid discharged therefrom, and means for dumping said trough upon movement of the door.

7 The combination with a hopper provided with a bottom discharge opening, of a frame surrounding said opening, a door reciprocable thereon, said door being provided with means for collecting liquid passing through said opening and discharging the same at one end of the door, a collecting trough adapted to receive liquid discharged from the door and mounted for pivotal movement, and means actuated by the door upon opening movement to tilt said trough sufliciently to dump the contents thereof.

8. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movably associated therewith and having drain passa es along its sides, and two adjacent paral el drain passages extending across one end and communicating with said side. passages.

9. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movable relative thereto, the frame having a depending flange extending entirely around the periphery of the opening therethrough, a second flange parallel to the said first flange and extending across one end of the said opening, and a door having an upwardly extending flan e extending along both sides and the end of t e door adjacent the said additional depending flange of the frame to form liquid conducting passages.

10. A closure for a hopper discharge opening comprising a frame, a door movable relative thereto and having drain passages along its sides, two dependlng flanges extending across the frame-at one end of the opening and forming with the door two parallel adjacent passages across the end thereof.

11. The combination set forth in claim 9 in which one of said depending flanges scrapes the material from the door and side passages thereof upon relative movement of the door and frame.

12. A closure for a hopper dischar e opening comprising a frame, a door mova le rela' tive thereto and having drain passages along its sides and a plurality of parallel adjacent passages across one end, and means for scraping material from said side assa es and door upon relative movemento the oor and frame 13. A closure for a hopper disohar e open- I ing comprising a frame, a door mova le relative thereto and having a drain passage along each side and two drain passages across the end toward which the door moves when opening, and means carried by the frame for scraping material from the door and side passages upon relative movement of the door and frame.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

FRANK H. DUNBAR. 

